Mtaa Youth Group fighting crime, drugs through sports and activities.

Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina presenting a trophy to one of the outstanding players in the tournament.

In an effort to fight against crime and substance abuse within
the Mt. Kenya region, a section of Thika youth have together and organised
various social activities which include soccer tournaments that have brought
together their peers within Kiambu County.

Over the past one week, Mtaa Youth Group have organised a
22-team tournament from across Kiambu County dubbed “SAY NO TO CRIME, CRIME SI POA
WACHA FUTAA ICHEZWE” that was hosted at St. Patrick Primary School
Grounds.

The group, which is now a year old, came up with this
initiative due to the high rate of their peers who were getting hooked up in
drug addiction and crime, majority of whom ending up in jail or ‘kupewa mchuma’ (shot dead by the
police).

“Most of our youth are getting hooked to ‘kete’ (cocaine) and are engaging in
daring muggings and eventually ending up in jail, being lynched by irate mob or
shot dead by the police. This trend is worrying and we had to do something to
arrest the situation,” said the group’s Treasurer John Kariuki Wanjiru alias ‘Rio’.

Though Rio admits that it has been an uphill task due to
unavailability of funds and youth resistance to change, he reckons that the
group had made great strides in reforming their peers, consequently reducing
the rate of crime significantly around Majengo, Ofafa and Starehe areas where
the core of their members hail from.

“Our next move will be to take our mission to schools as we
attempt to prevent teens from engaging in crime and substance abuse through
football,” he said.

His sentiments were supported by his colleague Evans Okello
aka ‘Coach Wemba’ who appealed to
area leaders to support the initiative as a way of bringing together the youth and
fighting crime through economic empowerment.

“I am appealing to our leaders to support us nature these
talents and build a team that can compete in regional and premier leagues. We
need sponsors to pay football subscriptions and acquire playing kits,” said
Coach Wemba.

Area MP Patrick Wainaina who was the chief guest hailed the
group’s initiative and promised to assist them achieve their dreams.

He requested them to form clusters for economic empowerment
and job creation in order to attract more youth out of poverty, crime and
substance abuse.

“Go form clusters of about 25 members and my office will
assist you with the registration and acquisition of government funding and
other necessary financial assistance from well-wishers. After that, we are
going to train you in financial management and help you take up tenders from my
CDF tenders worth about Ksh. 500,000 each,” said the MP.

He promised to support and nurture sports and talents in amongst
the local youth through various activities initiated by the youth themselves.

The inaugural tournament culminated on Sunday afternoon with finals between Starehe FC
and Islamic FC, both from Thika West Sub-County, where the former won 5-4 on post-match
penalties to lift the trophy and a cash award of Ksh. 30,000, all donated by the
office of the MP.

The runners-up went home with medals and a cash token of Ks.
15,000 with the second runners-up pocketing sh. 5,000.

Various players who excelled in their departments were also
given trophies and cash awards.

Each of the top three teams got uniforms donated by the area
CDF office.